A/N -Thanks for the reviews and alerts. Very busy time of year but hopefully the chapters will come fairly regularly. Time to see how their first major chat goes.

Chapter 2 - Hetty, Callen & Jessie.

A few days later Callen made his way to Hetty's desk; a nice freshly brewed cup of tea for her in his hands. He put it down, sat and waited patiently for her to look at him.

"What should I know?" he asked.

Hetty looked at him over her glasses. "Many things I would hope. What in particular does your question refer to?" She picked up the tea and sniffed in appreciation.

"Doctor Blake."

Hetty studied him for a moment over the still slightly steaming cup. Callen held her gaze even if the intensity of hers made him feel a tad uncomfortable. This was one of those times when you felt Hetty could see right into your thoughts - thoughts that perhaps you hadn't even known you'd been thinking. Given that there were places in Callen's head where even he didn't want to know what was going on, the thought of having Hetty seeing into his head wasn't particularly appealing.

"She's here to help you handle your jobs," Hetty finally said. "What else is there to know?"

"Why her?" Callen did wonder why Hetty had chosen someone who was to become an important part of his team without any input from him. Admittedly he didn't really have a say in who she hired, as demonstrated with Deeks though that had turned out well. However, since his team were reluctant talkers at best, it would've been nice to have some kind of say, or at least be consulted.

Hetty sat back in her chair, the tea cup now out of her hands back on the desk. "She comes highly recommended."

Callen leaned forward. "Hetty, your answers tell me there's something you're hiding."

"Actually Mr Callen, I would rather you learn about her for yourself than think you know her by what someone tells you."

It was a very similar answer to what a certain new team member had given him recently. Hetty was definitely hiding something, or protecting someone. It was a fine line with Hetty between those two. Obviously coming at her with the direct approach wasn't going to work.

Callen sat back in his chair. "Why a psychiatrist not a psychologist?" he asked.

"You are aware of the difference?" A question to answer a question.

"Yes." He was to some degree. He knew the training was different and what they were qualified to do varied but he didn't know the full extent of how they differed … yet. He suspected Jesinta was here for slightly different reasons than Nate had been since Nate was a trained operational psychologist. Just one more thing on his list to learn about to help him understand a certain someone.

"Doctor Blake is not your average psychiatrist," Hetty added still not answering his questions.

"She wouldn't be here if she was average Hetty. That much I know about your choice." Callen already knew that Jesinta still worked as an ER doctor at least twenty hours a week in addition to what she did here. Hetty had informed him that Jesinta's hours were a touch flexible because of that. He was definitely curious about why she split her time between two medical fields. "How did you find her?"

"Nate recommended her and after some investigation I felt she would be an asset to the team, in more ways than one." It was the most informative answer Hetty had given him yet.

"Nate knows her?" That gave Callen some degree of confidence. Nate knew what they were all about and he doubted Nate would recommend someone who wouldn't be able to do the job, or at least the job Hetty had created for her.

"They are acquainted," Hetty told him. "Nate told me she has a definite passion for helping those in this kind of field which showed in my investigation."

"Why? Why this field? Why two?" That was something Callen was definitely struggling trying to comprehend.

"You would be best to ask Doctor Blake that herself."

"I'm sure you already have so why should I waste her time?" Callen countered.

The soft voice was unexpected and came from just behind him. "It wouldn't be a waste of time Agent Callen." She certainly had the voice for a therapist. It was gentle, welcoming and easy to listen to which probably meant that her patients found her questions easy to answer. He'd certainly need to be alert to that when he was around her. Callen turned and studied her as she continued. "I'm more than happy to answer your questions."

"Please Doctor Blake," Hetty said. "Have a seat. Join us."

Jesinta turned her gaze from him to Hetty. "Thank you Hetty however I have a phone call I need to make. Perhaps if Agent Callen," she looked back to him, "has questions he would like answers to he is more than welcome to come and find me anytime." With that Jesinta turned and walked away.

"There you go." Hetty's words pulled his attention back to her. "An invitation to ask all you want."

It was one thing to ask questions. It was another to be able to get decent answers. His current conversation with Hetty was proof of that point.

"But will she answer them honestly?"

"If you don't trust her to tell you the truth," Hetty replied, "then you are going to have a difficult time working with her."

"Trust is earned Hetty." Strangers and new people were ones to be wary of until they had proven themselves in his line of work. Even those who were supposed to be the good guys.

"And for you trust is hard to give." Hetty nodded. "However I'm sure you will find she is up to the challenge, if you give her a chance."

And with that oh so subtle instruction disguised as an opinion, Hetty turned her attention back to her computer which Callen took as a dismissal.

Callen stood at Jesinta's door. A glance around the room showed him that the few changes she'd made in the week she'd been here had her office seeming brighter, and perhaps even more welcoming, than Nate's had been. After checking out the decor he turned his attention to her.

"I don't bite Agent Callen." Jesinta didn't look up from her computer as she spoke. "You can come in you know."

Callen stayed put and waited until she focused on him.

"I can't figure you out," he said. He was usually pretty good at sizing up someone's motives but she left him stumped. Two high stress jobs that required a lot of study. He'd worked out she'd done approximately sixteen years of study to get where she was and she was no doubt continuing in some way.

Jesinta sat back in her chair. "What's to figure out. I'm here to help."

Callen stepped into the room and moved to the chair that was in front of her desk after he briefly contemplated the couch - one that looked decidedly more comfortable than Nate's leather one had been. However he wasn't ready to hint that he was there for a long chat. He was here for answers not an extended chat.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to help us?" Callen asked. "Why do you do both ER and Psychiatry?"

"I enjoy both."

About as much information as his answers with Hetty had given him this morning; which meant not much. He should probably stick to one question at a time to improve his chances of getting a straight answer.

"Being a doctor is hard work. Being two … Seems a lot to take on."

Jesinta stared at him for a moment and Callen almost felt like she was debating how to answer him. He very much hoped she would give him one he could believe.

"I graduated medical school and did my residency specialising in emergency and trauma medicine with some additional psychology subjects as well." She must've seen the curiousness on his face as she then added. "Figured it couldn't hurt to have some extra knowledge when dealing with patients in potentially traumatic situations. Three months after I was fully qualified I had an encounter with a patient that made me rethink what I was doing and why. That lead me down the path of psychiatry as well. Unfortunately USU didn't have the PsyD course I wanted. I wasn't interested in research but in helping patients."

If USU was were she'd aimed then military had definitely been on her radar for a reason. He also had a little piece of information about her choice of degree.

"With some negotiation," Jesinta continued, "we made a deal and I ended up in San Diego and worked at a hospital there a few shifts per week in the ER while I worked through my degree. My focus was on frontline law enforcement and military patients. With the multitude of military bases in and around San Diego I had plenty of options to gain experience. I've since spent over five years working within military branches, including a year in the UK on an American base. At one point the FBI made me an offer I couldn't refuse but after a year with them it wasn't what they promised."

"Is it ever?" There had at least been plenty of information in her answer, though it still wasn't quite what he was looking for. More CV orientated than anything personal.

"Been there?" Jesinta asked him

"Among other places," Callen answered noncommittally.

"I met Nate at a conference just over twelve months ago," Jesinta told him. "He talked about what he did, rather vaguely, but it intrigued me. When we meet again six months later at another one I spent some more time with him, asked him for some more details. By then I was ready to leave the FBI I just wasn't quite sure where I wanted to head to. Three months later I received a call from NCIS asking if I was interested in this job."

"And Hetty made you an offer the FBI couldn't match."

"I didn't give them the opportunity to do so."

That comment told Callen she very definitely wanted out of the FBI. He was curious about that but given he'd left feeling much the same way, just wanting an out, he didn't push for more on that topic. She'd covered the how she got here, but still not the why of why she did what she did.

"Why this job? This field?" Callen probed. "Why not just be a standard psychiatrist? Open up a practice in a nice safe office somewhere and enjoy the money rolling in?" Private practice would definitely bring in more than government work. Not to mention a lot safer in general along with being able to pick and choose her patients. "Why didn't you just remain an ER doctor?" So much for one question at a time. "I'm sure," he continued, "there are plenty of places that need ER doctors, or even psychiatrists, and I'm sure you're quite a competent one." Hetty wouldn't have hired her if she wasn't. He still wanted a better answer to why both.

Jesinta rose from her seat and moved around to the front of the desk. She rested against it and looked down at him. He smiled slightly, well aware that they both knew the slight power play that was happening here but he wasn't intimidated. After all she wasn't Hetty, so he remained in his seat, allowed her the position of looking down at him. He did note the crossed arms and, to be honest, couldn't blame her for the defensive position. He had essentially just attacked her and questioned whether she should be here.

"I don't know," Jesinta said slowly, "if I should take that as a compliment or as an attempt to try and get me to leave."

Callen felt a little nudge of guilt that some part of him may very well have been after that. He wasn't particularly one to like changes to his inner world. Outer he was fine with going with the flow, adapting quickly to any scenario - he was good at it which was why he did what he did.

"Would it work if it was?" Unfortunately Callen wasn't exactly sure which option his question related to.

"A compliment," Jesinta shrugged. "Maybe. Getting me to leave. Not going to happen. This is where I want to be."

Callen was surprised at how positive she sounded given she'd only been here a week and had barely had the chance to get into the swing of the job.

"You can't possibly know that yet," he said.

Her arms uncrossed, her fingers gripped the desk on either side of her and she leaned toward him just a touch. "I do know that." The words were firm and the commitment strong, the stance open and honest. "Those who work like you and your team do," Jesinta continued. "Front line military and law enforcement. Those kind of people are some of the strongest out there, both physically and mentally. But when the mind breaks, it doesn't matter how strong the body is, it's over."

"So you want to stop our minds from breaking?"

"Agent Callen stopping just one person from breaking completely makes all those years of study worth it."

He believed her. There was an honesty and passion in her words and in her eyes. He just wasn't sure why she felt that way.

"Have you stopped many?" Callen asked.

"I would like to think so though it's not exactly an easy thing to count."

Even with all she had told him she still hadn't answered the first question.

"You still haven't told me why," Callen reminded her.

"I want to understand, listen, help and be there to make sure those who are keeping everyone else safe have someone to come to. Someone to lean on when they need it, when they need someone to be strong for them."

There was more. Callen could feel it. While her answer was good, and a very nice one, there was more to her reasons that she wasn't telling him. He rose from his chair and pushed into her personal space slightly in a very deliberate attempt to put her off and get a more real answer. This time he was looking down at her. "And how exactly could you understand," his voice was quiet but there was a harshness to his words that reflected the reality of their jobs here, "what we go through out there? Have you ever been in the line of fire? Seen first hand what we have to deal with every day?"

Callen watched Jesinta's face carefully for her reaction as he spoke, knowing that if his tactic succeeded he could learn quite a bit. It surprised him to see something akin to fear or pain, he wasn't quite sure which, in her eyes and also noticed the slight loss of colour to her cheeks.

"Hey Jessie." Deeks' voice interrupted them from the doorway. Callen stepped back at the same time Jesinta shifted away from him, not missing the fact that Deeks was already on a casual first name basis with her. Or the fact that Jessie seemed to fit her more than Jesinta did.

"I'm sorry Agent Callen," her tone now very professional and distant. One certainly more suited to Jesinta than Jessie, along with being one he hadn't heard from her until now. "I have an appointment and we'll have to call an end to this discussion."

Callen stepped closer and kept his back to Deeks. "Oh no Doc," he said soft enough for only her. Her gaze lifted to his. Her brown eyes didn't hold the chill or the distance her tone did. They held a hint of pain, yes it was definitely pain, in them. "This isn't over yet," he added. There was also vulnerability in her eyes that she couldn't hide even when she quickly glanced away. There was definitely more to the mystery of Doctor Jesinta Blake and he intended on finding out just what that was.